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“Where’s the fun in that?” Billy called out after him before his hand landed on my shoulder. “She’s a natural, everybody loves her.”
Southern Comfort regulars could be a prickly bunch. They didn’t accept outsiders easily. We’d lost more than a few new recruits thanks to bad tips and outright rude behavior. Locals made up over fifty percent of our business which meant that we needed someone that they accepted but who could also make vacationers feel at home.
It was a delicate balance and it didn’t surprise me that Skylar was handling it with grace and ease.
“Wouldn’t you agree?” Billy asked.
“What?”
“That everyone loves her,” my brother repeated as he squeezed my shoulder.
I knew exactly what he was implying, and I wasn’t going to bite. My feelings for Skylar were not something that I planned on advertising, even if they were obvious.
“Jimmy stopped by earlier. He tried throwin’ her a curveball but she knocked it out of the park.”
“Curveball?” My eyes shot to him and I felt my nostrils flare as my jaw tensed. If my idiot little brother had given her a bad time, he would be answering to me.
“Whoa.” Billy lifted his hand off my shoulder and took a step back from me, his eyes wide. “Down boy. He just ordered some drinks to try and fluster her. No harm no foul.” Before I could respond he nodded her direction. “Looks like it’s meet the family night.”
I glanced back and saw that Cheyenne, Reagan, and Isabella had just arrived and they were headed straight to Skylar.
A funny sensation spread through me as I saw the four women greet each other. There was a warmth, and…connection. I loved seeing Skylar with my sister and soon-to-be SILs. It felt right.
“You gonna carry that around all night or go say hi?” Billy swatted my arm with his white towel before he headed straight for his fiancée, picked her up, and spun her around.
I watched Skylar smile at the show my brother was putting on and I had to admit, I wanted to be the one to put that smile on her face. On a mission, I carried the white plastic tub of sliced lemons behind the bar and sat it down next to her.
“Oh, hi.” Her eyes widened behind her black-framed glasses that sat atop her freckled turned-up nose. When our eyes met, a wide smile spread on her face and all was right in my world once again.
I could feel the prying stares of not just my brother, sister, and sisters-to-be, but also the entire bar. Besides the music playing from the jukebox, you could hear a pin drop. There was no way I was going to talk to her with an audience.
“Can I borrow you for a sec?”
“Oh, um…” She glanced around the bar then back at me. “Sure. Yes. Okay. Of course.”
As we walked to the back I could feel nervousness rolling off of her in waves, not that her four responses hadn’t given me a clue to how she was feeling. I wasn’t sure if her anxiousness was because of me showing up, or if it was because of the attention that had been directed our way.
When we stepped into the office, I closed the door. It was the first time we’d been alone. At least, without Luna in the next room. It changed the energy in the atmosphere. The air was thick with a tension that I could only describe as crackling with energy.
“Is everything okay?” She turned so she was facing me, her eyes wide with concern.
“Yeah, I just…” Staring down at her I lost my train of thought. She was just so beautiful. Breathtakingly stunning.
“Hank?” Her brows furrowed.
I somehow managed to pull my thoughts together. “I just wanted to know if it would be okay if I worked on the house when you were at work. I’d need to have a copy of the key.”
She shook her head. “No. You don’t have to do that. You’ve already done too much. I can’t let you do th—”
“I am going to do it.” I cut her off gruffly. I didn’t mean for my response to sound so harsh and overbearing. But she brought that out in me.
I was going to apologize for my delivery when I saw her cheeks flush. She sucked in a shaky breath as she asked, “So this is just an FYI situation?”
“Yes.” I smiled down at her, happy that she wasn’t going to fight me on this. It would make both of our lives a lot easier, and that’s all I wanted to do, make her life easier.
